Quantum Cultivation by Jace Kang (simple e reader TXT) 📕

When the Nue whirled and whipped its tail, it seemed to be slogging through water. Still, Master Ryusuke had yet to fully recover, and the appendage smashed into him, launching him into the air. He flipped head over heels, then landed in a crouch, fist to the ground. Cracks rippled out from the spot.

This wasn’t going well, and Ken was useless. He came out of his stance and turned to Aya, still on the ground. “We’d better—”

The girl held a hand out, a tiny image of Master Ryu coming from the holoprojector in her palm. Her eyes were glazed over.

Just what was she doing?

The image enlarged and then shot over to where the real master was rising to his feet. Arching his back, he ducked under several sweeps of the Nue’s claws, captured a forelimb, and body-slammed it into the ground.

It let out an angry series of chirps, its monkey head sweeping back and forth between the master and his image.

Ken wasn’t sure which was which either, at least not until he curled his toes into the street. Pulsations emanated from the real person. For now, though, the projection and Master Ryu moved side-by-side in synchronicity, flowing into something that looked a little like the Xingyi Water Form.

Reaching into her interdimensional space, Siena withdrew a thin, straight sword. She started forward, with Teppin now at her side with the discarded Kappa walking stick.

The Nue chirped out, and again, the sky opened up with lightning. Master Ryu and his hologram split apart, both avoiding the bolts, then closed in with punches that moved so fast they blurred. It raised its forelimbs to fend off both, only to get pummeled backward by the real Cultivator. It crashed into the temple’s outer wall, then landed on four unsteady feet. Master Ryu swept his hand in an arc, and even from two meters away, blood sprayed from a line which opened up from its shoulder across its chest. With the reverse motion, another gash appeared across its neck.

Siena’s blade slashed into its tail, while the runes of the walking stick lit up as Teppin used it to hit the monster in the body. In a few zigzagging steps, each avoiding a lightning strike, Master Ryu was upon the monster.  He knocked aside a defensive paw and whipped a Splashing Hands palm at its face.

It chirped again, just as Master Ryu was about to land a punch. A blast of energy rippled out, sending its three assailants stumbling back, their limbs twitching involuntarily as they fell to the ground.  The hologram of the master winked out. The walking stick clattered away. The glowing blue beads around Siena’s neck faded.

And here Ken was, First Rank and useless.

Flee, the master had implored them. Even now, Aya was backing away.

Between Master Ryu and the Elestrae writhing on the ground, the Nue’s baleful glare settled on Siena’s prone form. It stalked toward her.

Summoning up every gram of courage, Ken found the discarded walking stick in the corner of his vision. It was on the other side of the Nue.

“Distract it!” Ken yelled to Aya as he dashed toward the artifact.  His jump didn’t clear the blurred sweep of the Nue’s tail, and he tumbled face-first into the pavement. Pain burned across his forehead and palms, but he scrabbled across the ground toward the walking stick.

He reached out—

The tail wrapped around his ankle and yanked him.

But not before his fingers closed around the smooth wood.  Energy coursed through it and into him, its three Cores sources of tangible energy now that he was First Rank. He could do this!  He twisted around enough that he could swing the walking stick at the yokai’s appendage.

It shrieked as the wood connected, and the tail loosened its grip. Blood belched from the wounds the master had scored across its neck.

Ken climbed to his feet and sank into the Xingyi Metal Form stance.

Even gravely injured, the Nue radiated immense power. Its claws slashed back and forth in a blur, each scoring wounds across Ken’s chest.  The pain seared into him as he staggered back.

The Nue started to leap…

Master Ryu appeared on its flank.  The Nue turned its attention away from Ken and pounced on the master…

Who blinked out of existence again.

One of Aya’s holograms! Ken surged forward, stomping and swinging the walking stick at the back of its head.

The Nue whirled around blindingly fast and swept its hand into the path of the stick. The wood splintered on impact.

The horrid monster was Metal in nature. Ken switched to the Fire of Wing Chun punches, raining blow upon blow into its body. Each time, it felt like a knuckle or finger bone cracked upon impact.

The Nue took each of the punches without even flinching. Its claws ripped across Ken’s abdomen with pain like he’d never experienced before. He looked down to see his intestines spilling out.

His head began to spin, and he wobbled on his feet. Then he collapsed. As his vision faded, he made out the monster looming above.

Chapter 29:

The Cultivator

R yu pulled himself up, limbs still twitching from the electrical discharge. It was similar to the one he’d used to disable Kentaro’s nanochip, but perhaps ten thousand times more powerful. Enough to kill a normal human.

He looked over to Siena, who lay still on the ground. Was she all right? Unranked as she was, she might die, too. He reached out through the water vapor and sensed her Core—still dense and strong, though that didn’t necessarily mean she was still alive.  Teppin wriggled, its legs convulsing in spasms. It might also be dead, and the twitching just a result of all the electricity still working its way through